Backyard birds

My first foray into bird feeding began with a glimpse of an American goldfinch in the trees in my backyard. On my next visit to the supermarket, I spotted a “finch sock,” a long mesh bag full of thistle seed, designed especially for finches. 

I put the feeder up on the deck where a hanging flower basket should have been, and waited. The gratification was almost instant. By the next day, merry little goldfinches were flying in, hanging on, and pulling seed out through the mesh. 

Part of the fascination with observing birds at feeders is watching the different behaviors of individuals. One goldfinch was particularly charming in his dining habit. The nylon line used to hang the feeder ran through a screw eye overhead and down to tie off at the deck rail. This bird walked down the tie-off line beside the sock, reached out with a foot, and pulled the sock to him. The entire feeder secured, he then ate his fill. That summer two goldfinch couples brought up families near my feeder. When the young fledged, their parents introduced them to the feast.

I was hooked. Another shopping expedition and I had a plastic green birdbath to offer an additional essential — water. As the weather grew colder, I would submerge a small, thermostatically controlled heater in the bath, introducing just enough heat to keep the water from freezing. My avian resort was shaping up. 

Flush with finchy success, I invested in a hummingbird feeder. I read about hummingbirds and made the perfect mixture of plain sugar water. All summer, every few days, I cleaned the feeder and changed the sugar water. But where were the birds? At last, in the fall, I was rewarded with several migrating hummingbirds that found my resort to their liking as a fuel and rest stop on their way south. Going back to my books, I read that ruby-throated hummingbirds, the species we have in the East, require real woods, not just a few trees, for nesting. If you live near woods, you can put up a feeder and have a good chance of enjoying ruby-throats all summer.

The migrant hummers stayed for about a month, making for captivating bird watching. They are fearless, and sometimes do a little human watching at close quarters. Their flight abilities and singular beauty — not to mention their cheeky attitude — were far more entertaining than any television channel. I still maintain my hummingbird feeder all summer and well into the fall. In the Southeastern United States, hummingbirds are not out of the question at any time of year. 

During the winter of 2006-2007, there were at least 27 confirmed reports of hummers outside their normal winter range. So far I have attracted just a few spring and fall migrants, but they are well worth the trouble.

Birds fill the world with more than 10,000 species. They are at home in multiple terrestrial ecosystems on all continents. Chances are, many more birds are sharing your space than you have ever noticed, especially if you live around the bird-rich Smoky Mountains. At least 245 species have been recorded in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Dr. Jeremy Hyman, Assistant Professor of Biology at Western Carolina University, explains, “The Southern Appalachians are a pretty spectacular place for bird watching. Part of the reason is the diversity of birds in a small area. We have a lot of birds which are more commonly found in the north, but they come south in higher elevations. One of the things that has really struck me since I moved here is that on a relatively short drive you can go from low to high elevation and through a lot of different kinds of forest. You can go around a corner and go from southern to northern birds.”

Visiting the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., led to another avian addiction. There I picked up a brochure describing their FeederWatch program. Since ornithologists can’t be everywhere, ordinary people, citizen scientists can create huge databases by watching and counting birds at their feeders all over the U.S. and Canada. They send the information to scientists, who use it to trace large-scale movements of winter bird populations, monitoring their distributions and numbers. 

Scientists can track avian diseases, understand the impact of invasive bird species, and trace appearances of rare birds. Some 13,000 people in the U.S. participate. I signed up at the FeederWatch website at a cost of $15. Because participants make this modest contribution, the FeederWatch program is entirely self-supporting.

I received all the needed instructions, forms for counting, and a color poster for help with identifying the most common feeder birds. The FeederWatch website also offers tips for bird identification and tells watchers what to do if they spot something unusual like a bird out of its normal range, or a sick bird. The FeederWatch Electronic Newsletter brings news every few weeks throughout the counting season, from early November to early April, covering trends, profiling members, and publishing their photographs.

In anticipation of the approaching count season, I selected a portion of my deck and yard near the feeders and chose two consecutive days — Saturday and Sunday — for the counts. I started my first large seed feeder with a “chickadee mix” of sunflower seeds and peanuts from my local feed store. This proved to be very popular with the smaller seed-feeding avians — wrens, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, and the ubiquitous house sparrows. 

I practiced identifying the birds using the poster and a field book. The count itself was simple. As time permitted, I recorded the maximum number of each species in my feeder area at one time during my two counting days per week. This insured that I never counted a bird twice, and that I counted all birds the same way.   Following instructions on the FeederWatch website, I reported my counts online. Sending counts by mail was also an option.

Birds that were too big to perch on the feeders, or just preferred ground feeding, gleaned seed from the deck under the feeders. These included cardinals, mourning doves, blue jays, towhees, juncos, mockingbirds, and white-throated sparrows. The mockingbird was not one to share, frequently chasing other birds away from the deck. Nuthatches seemed to shun crowds, using a smaller feeder away from the other birds. Snowy days changed the population of birds around the feeders. Joining the regular gang were brown-headed cowbirds, song sparrows, and a red-winged blackbird.   

FeederWatch was a wonderful way to enjoy nature, minus the cold, in the winter. It gave me an excuse to sit down and watch birds. Spending more time with them meant that I went beyond just identifying them. I observed their behaviors and got to know each species, even some individuals. The feeders brought birds out of the bushes that I had never before noticed. Each new arrival set off excited observations with the binoculars as I noted the characteristics of a bird for identification. 

I already knew that downy woodpeckers frequented my backyard, but the feeders also attracted at least one red-bellied woodpecker. Woodpeckers are arboreal, living primarily in woodlands, but a few species have adapted to suburban settings. Many birds that are primarily insectivores switch over to more available plant foods in winter. The woodpeckers hunted through the seeds for peanuts. Once they found a nut, they immediately flew away with it, perhaps to stash it somewhere for a snowy day. They spent a lot of time pecking at calorie-rich suet that the seed-eaters ignored.

Chickadees are among the best-known birds to visit feeders around the Southern Appalachian mountains — and one of the most fun to watch. They are acrobatic, easily perching upside down to feed in ways that most other birds have to pass up. Their food preferences include spiders and insects, seeds, and berries. They are bold and can sometimes be coaxed to take food from human hands. Chickadees cache food for later use, especially in seasonal climates with large variations in food availability. They can stash thousands of food items, showing considerable spatial memory in finding them later. The closely related tufted titmouse, also found at feeders around the Southern Appalachians, practices the caching habit too. 

The Southern Appalachians offer a special challenge in identifying chickadees. The Black-capped (Poecile atricapilla) and Carolina (Poecile carolinensis) chickadees to our eyes look almost exactly the same. Their songs are different, which might help to settle the question, except that the two species readily hybridize (mingle) where their ranges overlap. Recent DNA studies of chickadee populations showed that more than 50 percent of the birds in some parts of the Appalachian Mountains had mixed ancestry. The hybrid offspring may adopt the songs of either or both parents, or may combine elements of both into one song. Learning, not just genetics, contributes to the songs, so they are unreliable for identification. FeederWatchers living in or near the Southern Appalachians report their chickadees as Carolina/Black-capped chickadee. That’s easy.

Beyond simple counting, FeederWatchers are helping scientists track an eye disease in finches. I used binoculars to look for the eye symptoms pictured on the FeederWatch website. Some unlucky house finches did have the malady, and I reported them with my counts. The spread of the disease is mapped on the FeederWatch website, along with other data.

Some guests at the avian banquet may not be very welcome. So far I have adopted a live-and-let-live philosophy, making no attempt to discourage starlings and clouds of voracious house sparrows, just counting them along with the other birds. This gives a true count, and so far these birds do not appear to have discouraged the others at the feeders to any great extent. Squirrels are another matter. They are legendary for their ability to outwit bird feeders. I knew I should avoid open or shelf feeders, but one of my first hanging feeders did not exclude squirrels at all. It was amusing (if a bit expensive) to watch how the rodents got past every barrier introduced to bar them. The battle of wits escalated over the winter, but the feeder was in tatters by the end of the season. I just had to respect an animal endowed with such ingenuity, persistence, and athleticism. I admitted defeat. I did much better with a spring-loaded, wire-protected feeder that closed when the squirrels jumped on it. The FeederWatch website has advice, including photos of feeder setups designed to discourage complete rodent pillage.

Limiting squirrel looting is only one way to enjoy bird feeding without breaking the bank. Shopping around can pay off. Avoid mixes with fillers that many birds toss over their shoulders, and buy seed in quantity. To save money, buy bulk seeds and peanuts and make your own “chickadee mix.” Careful storage of bulk seed protects the investment. If you feed only one seed, the best bet is black-oil sunflower seeds. Thistle is an expensive seed, but I would not even consider giving it up for the goldfinches. For suet, try your local supermarkets. Sometimes they package it just for bird feeders. Occasionally you can even get it free by asking the butcher to cut some. I use plain suet. A block of the suet-seed mix from the supermarket resulted in some very satisfied squirrels.

Perhaps the best way to feed birds on the cheap is to plant the feed. Instead of buying seed, plant sunflowers. Plants with seeds, berries, nuts, sap, and nectar are good bird chow and also offer cover. Native plant nurseries are a growing trend, and the people engaged in this business are often knowledgeable about wildlife. They can advise you on local, native plants that provide foods,  and also suppor native insects — insects that birds have been using for thousands of years. Native plants tend to be non-invasive, adding beauty and balance to your homestead.

Ban insecticides. Many birds are insectivores, and most bird species on this continent feed their babies protein-rich insects. Letting the birds eat the insects saves money, and it contributes to a healthier environment.

The all-out cheapest bird attractor is water. Even if you have no feeders, birds will use a reliable year-round water supply, entertaining you as they drink and splash. Creative thinking can also help to save cash. I turned a squirrel baffle that didn’t work into a second birdbath.

What’s next in my fledgling addiction? More feeders, more different foods, another FeederWatch count, adding native plants to my yard — all are possibilities. I’d like to encourage my winter chickadees to stay on in the summer to nest, so I need to put up suitable housing for them. 

While it’s wonderful to visit wild areas like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, not many of us can do that every day. But we can bring nature into our daily lives by feeding birds in our own backyards. Spending time with them is a great antidote to hectic, stressed lives. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that in the U.S., 40.9 million people feed wild birds every year. By joining programs like Project FeederWatch, we can contribute to important scientific work for better understanding and protection of birds and their habitats. FeederWatchers are the world’s largest research team — 13,000 of us can’t be wrong.

Watching the Watchers

While you are watching the birds, you might be intrigued to know how acutely they are watching you. Birds have perhaps the most sophisticated vision of any vertebrate. Using four or five types of cone cells in the eyes, as opposed to three in human eyes, birds see colors we can’t even name. The colors we see on bird plumage pale by comparison with what birds see. Male and female colors that look identical to us stand out like neon to the birds. Their perception even extends into the ultraviolet. Their finely tuned vision is aided by multiple foveas, the areas of each eye that have the most acute reception. We make do with one.